Orthotic devices, often called "braces", have been devised in the past for virtually every limb joint of the human body. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,477,591 granted Aug. 2, 1949 to E. C. Follis for "SURGICAL BRACE" discloses what can be considered a typical ankle brace. A hip joint brace is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,861 granted Mar. 1, 1988 to D. Yeomans et al. for "JOINT FOR ORTHOTIC DEVICE". And U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,180 granted Nov. 1, 1988 to M. Solomonow for "ORTHOTIC KNEE BRACE SYSTEM AND METHOD" discloses a representative knee brace.
Each of the orthotic devices disclosed in the aforementioned patents includes an adjustable stop mechanism for limiting pivotal movements between different components of the device. Those stop mechanisms require machined metal parts and, hence, tend to be expensive to manufacture.